Numbers Men Need to Know
By Alexander Germanis
We men have an interesting acquaintance with numbers. Whether they’re in regard to engine displacement, the stats of our favorite baseball players, or the true dimensions of a 2 x 4, important numbers are always running through our heads.
The numbers many of us don’t keep in mind, however, are far more vital than what the highest batting average in the league is this season. The various numbers regarding our health should be our greatest concern.
The Check-Up
As men age, the probability of incurring health problems increases. However, the likelihood of men to take one major preventative measure is shockingly low. Most of us tend to only see our doctors when we feel something is wrong. The rest of the time? Not so much. Only 45 percent of men report going to the doctor for an annual or every-other-year exam. Only 50 percent of men surveyed even consider a check-up as a form of routine health maintenance.
Research also shows most men are not familiar with their family medical history. Concerning urological issues like kidney stones and urinary tract infections, only 23 percent of men report being up to date on their knowledge. Even with the more high-profile family cancer history, only 36 percent of men have this information.
While routine check-ups should be common at all ages, once you pass the 40-year mark, visits to the doctor should be on an annual or every other year basis. It’s important to keep an eye on cholesterol level, blood pressure, weight, and other markers of health.
Manly Numbers
As we tend to pay less heed to even simple things like annual check-ups, it should come as no surprise that our health numbers tend to be quite different from our fairer-sex companions. For starters, men tend to live five years less than women, on average, with a life expectancy of 74.8 years in the United States.
This reduced number is due to a slew of factors. Men are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than women, with a staggering 50 percent of men diagnosed at some point in their lifetime, compared to 33 percent of women. Prostate cancer is the most likely form of cancer in men.
Half of American men ages 18 and older also have hypertension, which is a sustained blood pressure reading of 130/80 or higher. The ideal blood pressure range for a man is 120/80, however, those numbers do shift depending on age. For men under 40, a 119/70 reading is considered ideal and 133/69 is normal for men over the age of 60.
Another factor many physicians consider when looking at the picture of a man’s health is the body mass index (BMI). While this is not a truly accurate indicator of a person’s overall health (more on that in a future article), the “healthy” numbers for a man’s BMI fall in the 18.5 to 24.9 range.
For cholesterol, a total cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL is considered good for men, with an HDL of higher than 40 mg/dL and LDL of less than 100 mg/dL.
Some Real Downers
It’s no secret that mental health is a major issue in this country, and it plays a significant factor in men’s overall life expectancy. In 2022, white men alone constituted 68.46 percent of all suicide deaths in the United States, meaning men are almost four times more likely than women to kill themselves. That number remains relatively consistent through passing years.
Just as with physical health check-ups, men tend to seek professional mental health treatments less often than their female counterparts, with roughly 63 percent of men with recognized mental health issues seeking help compared to nearly 68 percent of females.
Alcohol is also a male-dominated crutch, with 58 percent of men stating they consumed alcohol in the month before being surveyed. Twenty-one percent of men also report binge drinking. Repeated alcohol consumption, naturally, leads to alcohol-related deaths, with 120,000 attributed to men in the year 2022 alone. Men are counseled by the U.S. Department of Health to not exceed two drinks per day, although not drinking at all is, of course, far better.
Positive Numbers
Before all these numbers take another year off your already smaller life expectancy, take heart that men’s numbers are better than women’s in a number of categories.
Where exercise is concerned, men are more likely to exercise regularly than women. In fact, 26.3 percent of men meet the U.S. national standards for exercise compared to 18.8 of women. As mentioned in a previous “Health by the Numbers,” 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week is considered by numerous healthcare entities as being the number for which to shoot.
Men are also half as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, with men having a 10 percent risk after the age of 45 versus a 20 percent risk in women.
Preventions are Better than Cures
To better lower our bad numbers and increase the good ones, a little more preventative maintenance is certainly in order. In order to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease, men should take in at least 400 grams (equivalent to roughly five servings) of fruits and vegetables every day.
Regular exercise as prescribed above and a yearly or every other year health screening should be minimums. Men ages 18 to 39 should be getting their blood pressure checked every three to five years, at the least. Older men should be checking it with each annual physical.
While it’s true many of the numbers concerning men’s health might seem a little overwhelming, keeping them in mind should be no more difficult than recalling how many thousands of miles since last changing your car engine’s oil.
And just as with routine maintenance on our four-wheeled friends, paying more attention to our personal health numbers will keep us running smoother and, hopefully, for a lot longer.